Sir Keir Starmer needs to level with voters – concrete change may only come in a second Labour term

Published

1 year ago

March 30, 2024

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It may have been Labour’s local election launch, but it was used by Sir Keir Starmer to roll out his national campaign messaging ahead of the general election later in the year: “The country needs change and we are the change.”

It is, if you like, a dry-run for the general election as Labour strategists target areas in their battleground seats around the West and East Midlands and Tees Valley. They will talk up Sir Keir‘s “national missions” and test out Tory attack lines.

There is no doubt that Labour is expected to win big as political watchers look to see if there will be a repeat of the sort of huge gains Sir Tony Blair saw in the 1996 local elections before his 1997 landslide.

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Labour strategists might mutter that in every general election year, the government gain seats in local elections even when there’s a change of government, but the expectation is that Labour could win hundreds of seats from the Conservatives and perhaps take the scalp of the Conservative West Midlands mayor Andy Street – while Sir Keir will be looking at this as an important staging post on his path to power, his opponent Rishi Sunak is just trying to survive.

But beyond the drama of the Conservative fortunes and the prime minister’s fate, what is also emerging in this election campaign is the secondary strap of Sir Keir’s ‘change’ message.

When he says change, what he really means is patience, and that is perhaps the national conversation we are going to be having much more in the run-up to this general election.

Because while Sir Keir likes to make long speeches diagnosing the maladies brought about in Britain after 14 years of Conservative rule, he’s less good at giving us remedies.

On Thursday in Dudley, when he laid into Mr Sunak for “strangling” levelling-up “at birth” and accused Boris Johnson of “preying on people’s hopes” and not delivering, his own answer is greater devolution of powers to local leaders to better deliver local growth and level up communities.

A (possible) solution that is a very slow medicine indeed at a time when local councils across England are struggling to provide basic services let alone more opportunities for their communities.

The more immediate issue for towns and cities across the country is the funding crisis in local councils.

One in five council leaders said in December that their councils are “likely or fairly likely” to go bust in the next 15 months.

Birmingham effectively declared itself bankrupt earlier this month and was forced to lift bills by 21%, while cutting services.

With more on the brink, the Local Government Association says an emergency £4bn will be needed just to maintain basic services in the next two years.

When I asked Sir Keir if he would be able to commit this funding, he told me he “can’t turn on the spending taps” (and also said tax increases were not an option given the country’s tax burden – many Labour voters might disagree, but he and Rachel Reeves are immovable on this).

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What he did say was this: “At the end of an incoming Labour government councils will be better funded, more sustainable, able to deliver their services than they are now,” and when asked again to clarify whether looking again at funding settlements could involve an upfront cash injection, he was unequivocal: “What it means is not a lump sum cash injection”.

In other words, you’re going to have to wait for perhaps five years for better funded councils and better public services.

So in the coming weeks, as you watch Labour try to manage expectations for what could be a May local election landslide, watch too for more of what I got more of a glimpse of in Dudley: a Labour leader desperately trying to manage expectations of what an incoming Labour government can do.

With the decisions he and Ms Reeves have made on fiscal management of the economy – effectively sticking closely to Conservative fiscal rules and eschewing any commitment to tax rises or spending increases – this will only become a bigger part of this change story as we get closer to deciding who should take power later this year.

Sir Keir is going to campaign on the promise of change.

Where he needs to level with voters more is that they might have to wait for a second Labour term for concrete change to come.

Politics

SEC punts decisions on XRP, DOGE ETFs

Published

2 hours ago

April 29, 2025

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SEC punts decisions on XRP, DOGE ETFs

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed deciding on whether to greenlight two proposed cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) holding Dogecoin and XRP, filings show.

The US regulator has delayed its deadline for ruling on the proposed ETF listings until June, according to two filings reviewed by Cointelegraph.

The filings were responses to March requests from US exchanges NYSE Arca and Cboe BZX Exchange to list Bitwise’s Dogecoin (DOGE) ETF and Franklin Templeton’s XRP (XRP) ETF, respectively.

They came on the same day that Nasdaq, another US exchange, asked for permission to list a 21Shares Dogecoin ETF.

Dogecoin is the world’s most heavily traded memecoin, with a market capitalization of around $26 billion as of April 29, according to data from CoinGecko. XRP is the native token of the XRP Ledger blockchain network. It has a market capitalization of approximately $133 billion, CoinGecko data shows.

Deluge of filings

In 2025, the SEC has fielded requests to authorize dozens of altcoin ETFs for US listing. As of April 21, approximately 70 crypto ETFs were awaiting the SEC’s review.

Asset managers are proposing funds holding “[e]verything from XRP, Litecoin and Solana to Penguins, Doge and 2x Melania and everything in between,” Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas said in an April 21 post on the X platform.

The deluge of proposals comes as US President Donald Trump pushes the SEC to take a more accommodating stance toward cryptocurrencies.

However, analysts caution investor demand for altcoin ETFs may be tepid in comparison to funds holding core cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).

“Having your coin get ETF-ized is like being in a band and getting your songs added to all the music streaming services,” Balchunas said.

“Doesn’t guarantee listens but it puts your music where the vast majority of the listeners are.”

Although US exchanges are embracing crypto ETFs, they are also urging the SEC to take a tough regulatory posture toward digital assets. In an April 25 comment letter, Nasdaq encouraged the SEC to hold digital assets to the same compliance standards as securities if they constitute “stocks by any other name.”

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Nasdaq files to list 21Shares Dogecoin ETF

Published

5 hours ago

April 29, 2025

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Nasdaq files to list 21Shares Dogecoin ETF

The United States exchange Nasdaq has asked regulators for permission to list a 21Shares exchange-traded fund (ETF) holding the popular memcoin Dogecoin, regulatory filings show.

The move follows 21Shares’ April 10 filing of its initial proposal to launch its Dogecoin ETF, shortly after similar applications from rivals Bitwise and Grayscale. The asset manager has also sought regulators’ permission to list ETFs holding other cryptocurrencies, including Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), and Polkadot (DOT).

Nasdaq must gain approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) before it can list and trade the fund. The request amounts to a regulatory review process that could determine whether Dogecoin becomes accessible to a broader range of investors through an ETF structure.

Onslaught of altcoin ETFs

Fund issuers requested to list dozens of altcoin ETFs after US President Donald Trump instructed the SEC to take a friendlier stance toward cryptocurrencies after his second term began in January.

As of April 21, more than 70 crypto ETFs were awaiting the SEC’s review. The list includes alternative layer-1 (L1) native tokens, such as SOL and Sui (SUI), as well as memecoins such as Bonk (BONK) and Official Trump (TRUMP).

While exchanges such as Nasdaq seek to list more crypto ETFs, they are also pushing for firmer US regulatory oversight of digital assets. In an April 25 comment letter, Nasdaq urged the SEC to hold digital assets to the same regulatory standards as securities if they constitute “stocks by any other name.”

Dogecoin utility

Dogecoin (DOGE) is a popular memecoin with a market capitalization of nearly $26 billion as of April 29, according to CoinGecko.

It is distinct from most other memecoins because DOGE is the native token of the Dogecoin network.

The proof-of-work blockchain network is designed as a faster, cheaper alternative to Bitcoin (BTC) for peer-to-peer payments.

It processed more than 40,000 transactions in the past 24 hours, according to data from Bitinfocharts.com.

In September 2024, blockchain developers QED Protocol and Nexus tipped plans to launch a layer-2 (L2) scaling solution designed to bring smart contracts to Dogecoin.

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Politics

UK gov’t proposes crypto rules in response to scams

Published

7 hours ago

April 29, 2025

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<div>UK gov't proposes crypto rules in response to scams</div>

The United Kingdom’s Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, have proposed new crypto rules aimed at “support[ing] innovation while cracking down on fraudsters.”

In an April 29 notice, the UK government announced draft rules for cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), that would bring “crypto exchanges, dealers and agents” in line with regulations, as many residents were “exposed to risky firms and scams.” It cited discussions with US government officials, including a proposed US-UK cross-border sandbox from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Hester Peirce.

“Today’s announcement sends a clear signal: Britain is open for business — but closed to fraud, abuse, and instability,” said the notice. “The government will bring forward final cryptoasset legislation at the earliest opportunity, following engagement on the draft provisions with industry.”

Treasury and Reeves said the UK was committed to making the country a “global hub for digital asset technologies,” referencing the goals of the previous government under the Conservative Party. A 2023 consultation paper from Treasury proposed “bringing a wide range of cryptoasset activities” — including trading and issuing stablecoins — in line with UK regulations.

Praise from industry

In a statement shared with Cointelegraph, Ian Silvera, the associate director for the self-regulatory trade association CryptoUK, called the government announcement a “very much welcomed and a big victory” for crypto firms. However, he added that the industry could also benefit from regulatory clarity on liquid staking and DeFi.

“Though there has been good regulatory progress from the [Financial Conduct Authority], which published its crypto roadmap late last year, the UK government first committed to becoming a global crypto hub in 2022,” said Silvera. “Progress has been slow since then, but as the Chancellor has recognised herself the mainstreaming of the industry has continued, with now 12% of all UK adults owning some sort of crypto, up from 4% in 2021.”

The FCA plans to publish final rules on crypto sometime in 2026, setting the groundwork for the UK regulatory regime to go live. The roadmap to greater regulatory clarity in the UK could follow the European Union, which started to implement its Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework in December.

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